Most of current crises and conflicts have their roots in the history of empires – from the invasion of Ukraine by Russia to the wars in the Middle East. This module will introduce you to the ways in which empires shape our understanding of the ‘Other,’ through the example of the modern Jewish experience. It will enable you to understand the evolving political, socio-economic and legal position of Jews in the Russian and Soviet continental empires, from the late 18th century to its collapse. The module will provoke you to think about questions such as: How did the Russian empire and Soviet Union deal with religious and ethnic difference? How did modernisation interplay with imperialism and antisemitism? How did Jews negotiate their identity in the Russian and Soviet empires? We will examine the construction of the imperial Other and the way the Russian and Soviet power responded to the so-called ‘Jewish question’ from the end of the 18th century to Stalin. We will also analyse the Jewish responses to othering, including assimilation, migration and nationalisms. We will explore the complex relations between Jews, the imperial state and local populations, complicating your understanding of anti-Jewish violence and antisemitism in Eastern Europe. The module will decentre narratives of the Holocaust and look at its eastern European context. By engaging with a wide variety of textual and visual sources – legal documents and press but also petitions, films, petitions, caricatures, and art – we will unpack the relationship between Jews and empires and get acquainted with key concepts in the study of empires.
Where did the idea of ‘English Literature’ as we know it today come from? When and how did writers first start thinking of themselves as English authors? How did the mechanisms of book production and the material forms of books shape readers’ understanding and judgements of literary texts? This module will focus on the fourteenth through to the seventeenth centuries, a period in which writers invented and wrote themselves into literary traditions, made new, bold claims for English as a literary language and for their own literary art, and crafted new poetic, dramatic and prose forms. In so doing, they profoundly shaped later generations’ understanding of what English Literature is. But creating an idea of what English Literature is also involves forming an opinion about what it is not, and the module will encourage you to consider how literary traditions are created selectively, to think about inevitable silences and exclusions, and to reflect on how ‘English Literature’ is an invention, and how it might be constructed differently.
The knight is one of the most emblematic figures of the Middle Ages, a rich and multifaceted character: from the warrior whose privileged social status was justified by the exercise of violence to the gentleman who embraced a sophisticated aristocratic court culture. In this module, we will examine what shaped the ethics of these knights, what influenced their conduct and their state of mind, paying particular attention to the gap between the ideals of the knights' code of conduct and the reality of their lives (1100-1500). This exploration of elite culture will focus not only on the harsh realities of the battlefield in local wars and in more distant lands where knights pursued the crusading ideals, but also on aristocratic displays in tournaments, ceremonies, (extravagant) banquets and acts of devotion. This module is also a journey into gender identity (virility) and the social order dominated by the image of the preudhomme ('worthy man'). To carry out this investigation, we will use a wide variety of sources and media such as treatises on chivalry, chronicles, Arthurian novels, biographies, legal proceedings, statutes of the orders of chivalry, contracts of brotherhood in arms, books of tournaments and, of course, a Round Table.
This module examines a broad range of torts protecting a variety of different interests. The module begins by situating the law of torts in relation to the broad principles underpinning contract and criminal law; introduces you briefly to the broad range of torts, and then focuses on the fundamental principles of liability with particular reference to negligence. Other torts (e.g., nuisance) are considered, as are current issues of particular difficulty and importance in respect of tort law. You will be encouraged to consider and evaluate the role, nature, and functions of tort law, as well as its technical rules.
This version of Law of Torts is provided for you if you are studying the LLB (JD Pathway), the LLB Accelerated or the LLB Law with Psychology programmes. This module examines a broad range of torts protecting a variety of different interests. The module begins by situating the law of torts in relation to the broad principles underpinning contract and criminal law; introduces you briefly to the broad range of torts, and then focuses on the fundamental principles of liability with particular reference to negligence. Other torts (e.g., nuisance) are considered, as are current issues of particular difficulty and importance in respect of tort law. You will be encouraged to consider and evaluate the role, nature, and functions of tort law, as well as its technical rules.
Bills of lading and analogous shipping documents play important roles in the carriage of goods by sea. In this module you will study the functions of a bill of lading, cargo claims under the Hague-Visby Rules and rights of suit at both common law and statute. This involves the application of general principles of English commercial law, principally being an application of the law of contract, tort and bailment, to the specific field of the carriage of goods by sea. Legislation (and principles of its interpretation) will be examined, including in particular the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1971 (bringing into force in the UK the Hague-Visby Rules) and the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1992.
This module introduces you to the law governing charterparties which are maritime contracts between shipowners and charterers for the hire of a ship for the carriage of cargo (or passengers) and as such form a critical part of the law governing the carriage of goods by sea. Charterparties may be voyage charters, time charters or bareboat/demise charters, and often go hand in hand with bills of lading, which in turn may import the application of the Hague-Visby Rules to the charterparties by paramount clauses. The study of this module involves an application of general principles of English (contract) law to the specific context of charterparties.
This module aims to introduce you to the theory and practice of the Lean Startup methodology, a hypothesis driven experimental model of entrepreneurship. Unlike other entrepreneurship modules, this module requires that you evaluate a provided idea, rather than developing one yourself. You will be introduced to the Lean Startup methodology in a series of lectures and seminars, including a number of practical methods and tools which you can apply in a project. In teams, you will seek to obtain customer feedback on a provided product or service prototype. You will then propose design changes based on that feedback. Your individual assessment will evaluate your team’s application of the Lean Startup method, and critically evaluate the method itself.
Blood, violence, terror, raids, pirates, rape and pillage are just some of the words associated with the Vikings in both the medieval and modern imagination. Their fearsome reputation is underlined by nicknames such as ‘Blood Axe' and ‘Skull-splitter', but violence is only one part of Viking history. The Vikings also formed extensive trade networks across Europe and into Asia, founded new countries, developed new technologies, created beautiful objects and left behind a literary tradition that influenced European culture for many centuries. In this module, by studying historical, literary and archaeological sources, you will examine both the reality of Viking society and how Viking identity was perceived over the course of the middle ages. Topics will include: Viking migration and settlements (for example, the foundation of Iceland), the mechanics of exchange (trade and gift-giving), kingship and kinship, travel and technology, the saga tradition and its influence, the material culture of the Vikings, religious beliefs and mission, perceptions of the Vikings and the formation of the Viking ‘myth'.
'The present generation,' wrote J. A. Froude in 1882 as he looked back at the first years of the nineteenth century, 'will never know what it was to find the lights all drifting, the compasses all awry, and nothing left to steer by except the stars’. Far from being a complacent or confident era, the long nineteenth century was often a time of upheaval, fragmentation, and novelty. In this core module for the MA English Literary Studies (Nineteenth-Century) pathway, you will study the radical potential of Romanticism, the feverish literary experiments of the high Victorian period, and the beginnings of modernism. Students will gain knowledge of key scholarly approaches to nineteenth-century literature, asking throughout how the period's writers responded to, and at times provoked, social, cultural, and personal change.
This core module for the MA English Literary Studies (Twentieth-Century) pathway, taught by all those contributing to the pathway in a given year, will introduce students to the key critical, theoretical, historiographical and conceptual debates surrounding the study of the long twentieth century. It will emphasise the issues which have been central to the emergence and revision of key areas of scholarship on the period over the last quarter century, and to effective methods for archival research.
This module explores the luxury consumer in the context of a fast-changing external environment, which is radically shifting the way that luxury is perceived and experienced, particularly by new emerging consumers such as Generation Z and Gen Alpha who have unique preferences and values. These consumers prioritise individuality and personalisation, seeking products and experiences that reflect their personal identity. Sustainability and social responsibility are crucial, and they favour brands that demonstrate ethical practices and environmental consciousness. This module explores the new areas of attention brands and businesses need to develop to appeal to the new generations of luxury, whilst delicately balancing the expectations of existing consumers.
This module examines changing notions of British (and, more specifically, English) national identity in relation to issues of race, ethnicity and immigration from the 1840s to the present day.
The module looks at the development of the English language, and examines its relationship with other, potentially rival, languages that have been spoken in the British Isles. It examines the effect of successive waves of conquest on the sociolinguistic situation which led to a situation of of diglossia or even triglossia, with English one of a number of varieties used in a set of socially determined domains. Using Haugen’s standardization model, we examine the factors which led first to selection and later acceptance of English as the dominant variety, and consider the associated linguistic processes of codification and elaboration of function. Working with short texts from different time periods, the module then introduces how and why grammatical changes occurred in Anglo-Saxon, Old and Middle English (e.g. loss of case marking, gender, weakening of the verbal paradigm) and their consequences for the modern language. We will also consider phonological changes (e.g. the Great English Vowel Shift) and their consequences for dialect differentiation. Throughout the module we make parallels with contemporary English by exploring ongoing change, including dialect loss and dialect levelling.
India as we know it today did not exist before decolonization in 1947. During British imperial rule, India was a collection of British colonial territories and loosely colonized Princely states. And, for almost three thousand years before colonial rule, the territory we know as India was in fact many different states. How did India become one nation with many official languages and the biggest functioning democracy in the world? This module will address this question by tracing how stories about ‘one India’ have been told in the last 150 years by important commentators of the time. We will read James Mills’ 1818 History of India alongside Jawaharlal Nehru’s Discovery of India which was written in 1935. Through these readings we will think about how a modern nation state comes to be. What are the processes through which new unity is imagined? Effectively, this module will introduce you to debates in the history of nationalism through a case study of Indian nationalism.
Philosophy of mind explores questions about the nature of the mind and mental states – states such as perceptual experiences, beliefs, desires, and emotions. What is the mind? Is it an immaterial substance? Is it the brain? Is it something like a computer? Might it just be a useful fiction? In considering these questions we will pay particular attention to two central features of the mind: (i) that mental states play a central role in explaining behaviour (for example, my desire for coffee helps explain why I’m heading to the cafeteria); (ii) that some mental states are conscious: there is something it is like to feel pain, taste marmite, or see a sunset. We will study the various ways in which philosophers have tried to give an account of the mind that makes sense of these features.
The course provides an insight into how molecular studies can be employed to further medical research and aid in the development of novel treatments and therapeutics. The course will cover a number of areas including the role of epigenetic in disease, amyloid diseases, the role of kinases in cancer, molecular understanding of diabetes and viral infections.
‘A novel does not assert anything; a novel searches and poses questions’. The contemporary novelist Milan Kundera describes the novel as an exploratory and engaging form, a way of telling stories that involves readers both in its searches and in the questions it poses. This module gives you the means of participating fully in these acts of literature by raising questions of genre, and considering how such familiar terms as character, setting and plot generate meanings collaboratively with us, their readers. This module locates the novel historically, to give the curious story of a peculiarly modern form. Our story begins in the eighteenth century, when the novel was effectively invented and sought its fortunes in a new market of leisured middle-class consumers. We trace its history from the boom years during the mid to late nineteenth century to the twentieth century, when the novel comes to compete with other popular cultural media, such as cinema, TV and then the internet. The final section of the module looks at texts in which the novel redefines itself globally, often through new hybrid and experimental forms associated with such movements as modernism and postmodernism. We will also consider the novel in our own time.
In this module you will explore the operas by Benjamin Britten, one of Britain’s most influential composers. Britten’s operas are among the few 20th-century works that hold a central position in today’s operatic canon. They are produced regularly by world-leading opera companies, and they are available in numerous audio and video recordings. Proceeding in rough chronological order from Peter Grimes (1945) to Death in Venice (1973), you will become acquainted with Britten’s most popular works, including Billy Budd, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Turn of the Screw, and Owen WIngrave. Each opera discussed in the module will serve as a case study to explore a broad theme in operatic culture, including reception and dissemination, the adaptation of a literary source to an opera libretto, national identity, social issues, sexuality, and opera and the media.
Are we living in an age of climate change or climate crisis? In her 2019 speech to the World Economic Forum, Greta Thunberg famously declared “Our house is on fire”: a statement underscored by the Australian bushfire crisis of 2020 and the mass devastation of more than one million acres of ‘gigafires’ in California the same year (worse even than previous seasons of ‘megafires’). But how did we get here? What stories could have been—or were—told about the gradual changes to our global climate over time? This module returns us to a pivotal moment in the history of climate change: to the rise of a new geological age defined by human influence (the Anthropocene). It charts the course of increasing fossil-fuel consumption, changes to rural and urban economies and, ultimately, the rise of smoke-filled city skies. Over the course of the semester, we will explore how British fiction, non-fiction prose, plays, and poetry from the mid-to-late Victorian age (ca.1850-1900) place empire, economics, and ecology at the centre of an emerging planetary crisis. In learning from the writers of a newly-global, capitalist society on the cusp of massive geologic change, we will explore our own position as critical readers, writers, and thinkers in an era of ‘sustainability.’
The Philosophy of Value offers students the opportunity to explore in detail some central issues and texts in the Western philosophical tradition that address questions in the philosophy of value broadly construed (i.e. including ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, etc.). The module may focus on an important text, or on a body of significant literature.
This module explores how psychological processes shape political behaviour in contexts of conflict, crisis, and instability. It examines how emotions, identity, leadership, and perception influence decision-making in high-stakes environments, from international crises to domestic political polarisation. You will engage with key theories and real-world case studies to understand how fear, threat, and uncertainty affect political actors, public opinion, and policy responses. The module also considers the role of political communication, media, and narratives in escalating or resolving conflict. By combining theoretical insight with empirical analysis, the module equips you to critically evaluate political behaviour in times of crisis and to understand the psychological dynamics underlying contemporary global challenges.
